Haiti Earthquake Relief

The world is still reeling in shock at what happened to Haiti. The acute crisis will give way to long term-problems, and so this weekend churches have the perfect opportunity to collect funds to help.

What is needed is for resources to be delivered to people on the ground who will know how best to help and will do it in the name of Jesus. There are many different groups that we could channel our resources through, but John Lanferman of Newfrontiers USA has recommended a group called Compassion. Their Haiti Earthquake Relief fund will focus on helping families and children who have been affected by this disaster. He says that this group has very good contacts on the ground and will diligently administrate the funds they receive.

Tope Koleoso was very keen that we in the UK, and Jubilee Church in particular, find a way to help, tweeting yesterday “Haiti – We weep, we grieve, we give, we pray and we hope.” So we have decided to encourage people from the church to give to this fund, and we will be collecting money this weekend to send to this group as well as supplementing that from our nations fund. Perhaps your church could do the same. In the UK, channeling our funds through a local church will mean that the taxman can contribute to this cause through churches reclaiming the tax you paid.

The situation here in Port-au-Prince is now at a critical point, with rotting corpses beginning to fill the streets.

The cries of help that were being heard from the rubble have now been silenced – for many people it is simply too late.

Haitians feel very alone at the moment. The promise of aid has not yet materialised and many locals are still digging through the rubble with their hands. Most of the bodies are covered in white bed sheets or rolled inside carpets, but others have been left exposed to the hot sun and the stench of rotting bodies has begun to fill the air.

Families who are desperately searching for their loved ones are gingerly uncovering the sheets that cover the corpses in the hope they can at least identify family members.

But even if bodies are identified there is nowhere for them to be laid to rest. . . READ MORE